


Parabatai Bonding

by lupine_calla_wolfsbane



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 04:24:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9862478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lupine_calla_wolfsbane/pseuds/lupine_calla_wolfsbane
Summary: Damn him. Damn him to hell. Damn him with his pretty eyes and his muscles and his everything. Damn him to hell and pray to the gods that he feels the same.





	

               Alec first notices something is off when he starts knocking Jace on his ass, sure he beats Jace sometimes, just like Jace beats him. They’re pretty evenly matched. But it keeps happening, again and again. He’s worried for his parabatai’s health. But Izzy isn’t concerned.

“You’ve been over him for a while now, you’re just not distracted by him like you used to be. He’ll be fine.”

Except Alec isn’t over him. He never was. He doesn’t tell Izzy that, it’s been five years and that’s a long time to love someone who doesn’t even look at you that way.

               He doesn’t say anything to Jace, figuring the blond will either get over whatever’s bothering him, or tell Alec. He’s hoping for the latter, before the stress kills them both. Jace doesn’t get over it and he doesn’t tell Alec; and then Alec really begins to worry. They’re sparring late in the afternoon of a particularly dull day, Izzy’s disappeared off somewhere to make them snacks which they intend to politely decline and left them alone. The room is overly warm and Alec’s hands are slippery with sweat and he struggles to keep hold of his seraph blade but Jace doesn’t press his advantage even when Alec drops the damn thing. He just stands there, looking dumbstruck, as Alec picks it up from the floor; he finally snaps out of it when Alec makes to strike for his face, but he’s still acting odd. When Jace himself slips, and drops his guard, Alec doesn’t waste the opportunity and knocks Jace flat on his back.

               The blond groans and lets his head fall back onto the floor, Alec shifts nervously.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” But he doesn’t move, just lays there and looks…defeated. When Alec begins to fidget, he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, grunts, and climbs to his feet again.

“You sure?”

“I’m _fine_ , Alec. Come on.” He near throws the seraph blade back into the weapons cache and walks away without another word, leaving Alec alone. Alec considers chasing after him, demanding to know what was wrong with him, but in the end, he doesn’t bother. His parabatai bond aches.

               It’s beginning to get ridiculous, Jace trips and stumbles all the time, singlehandedly falling over every piece of furniture in the institute, at one point he walks straight into a solid wall. Alec did laugh, just a little. Izzy finally sees what he’s talking about though, she turns to him with raised eyebrows as Jace rubs his forehead.

“You’re right, something is definitely up with him.” Alec shrugs helplessly and they watch Jace leave the room, grumbling under his breath. It feels good, in a way, to watch Jace tripping up over his own feet the way Alec used to. “He keeps making this stupid face.” She makes a face that looks simultaneously angry, sad and forlorn. “All the time.” Alec has never seen Jace make that face but that doesn’t matter, because he _knows_ that face. He’s made that face. He used to make that face whenever he looked at his parabatai.

Oh.

“Alec, are you alright?”

“Oh, um, yeah. I’m fine. Jace is fine, he’s probably just ill or something.” Izzy frowns.

“Ok.”

               How strange, that after all these years, all their fights and all those death defying moments, that this is the thing that leaves him breathless. It’s also highly amusing, to watch Jace act like an idiot. It’s also kind of terrifying, because how the hell is he supposed to deal with this? What is he supposed to say? Does Jace know that his feelings are still there? Shit, shit, shit. Izzy’s gone, presumably having uttered a goodbye that he didn’t hear. He shakes his head to try and clear his thoughts, this could just be a little crush, a little passing fancy, there’s no point in getting hung up about it. On his way out, Alec walks into the door.

               After a while Jace manages to pull himself together and he stops acting quite so stupid, but if Alec pushes, a little teasing comment about his hair in the morning or his skill at handling a sword (he’d been quite proud of that one) and Jace is blushing and stammering again. Alec figures he might as well push a bit harder and see if he can get Jace to admit what’s going on in his head (because there’s still a chance he’s got this all wrong and he’s not going to confess his love again only to get turned down _again_ ). He gets Jace to meet him on a rooftop far from the institute, hoping that if he puts enough distance between them and the institute he’ll be able to forget about the rules and the family honour. And maybe Jace will finally feel safe enough to talk to him.

“Hey, Alec.”

“Hey.”

“Why’d you bring me up here? Are we going to stare at mundanes all night?”

“Parabatai bonding.” The blond snorts.

“That’s bull, Alec. What do you really want?”

“Come sit with me.” Jace snorts, but does as he asks.

               They sit in silence for almost ten minutes, Alec playing with the string of his bow, Jace scuffing his feet on the roof tiles. Then, slowly, in a calculated movement that he’s been practising all week, Alec brings his head closer to Jace’s. Their shoulders are brushing, if Alec dropped his head right now it would land on Jace’s shoulder; a near visible shudder runs through Jace and he twitches, moving ever so slightly closer to his parabatai. If Alec turned his head, leant in.

“ _Alec_.”

“Hmm?” He’s got him now, Jace’s eyes keep flicking to his lips.

“ _Alec_.”

“Jace.” Alec meets his gaze head on. “Unless you’re about to tell me to stop right now. Shut up.” Jace _shuts up_ , and it’s glorious. He finally leans in and presses a soft, chaste kiss to Alec’s mouth, they part with a little smile and Alec steals another kiss, as well as lightly kissing the tip of Jace’s nose which earns him a slap and an adorable laugh.

“Parabatai bonding, huh?”

“Don’t you feel like we’ve bonded?” Jace shuts him up with a kiss.

               They tell Izzy the next week and she just rolls her eyes and gives Alec a Look. “Who would’ve known, that after five years.”

“I have nothing to say you.” He stops her mid-sentence as she grins.

“Love you too, big brother.” But she agrees to keep it from Maryse because who knows what the woman would make of this. They’re brothers, _parabatai_. She’d probably burst a blood vessel. Or disown them both.

 

(Maryse had, eventually, found out when they’d taken a family trip to Idris and she caught them making out in an empty room. The screaming had stopped after an hour or so and she’d somehow managed to come to terms with the whole concept.)


End file.
